Quote:Original post by iMalc

Quote:Original post by silvia_steven_2000

this is what actuallay I meant to write. I did that by intention.
when u chose a strange title u get your massage read by the max
number of people.

Ah yes, but many people will just assume you are a troll, and we all know not to feed the trolls.

Not all of us do. Take me, for example. I am an idiot(tm). I feed trolls.

Then again, sometimes the troll dies in the feeding, if my cooking is a bit off. So I suppose it's for the common good.

</random>

void simple_example_of_when_smart_pointers_would_be_nice ( void ){    int * this_should_have_been_a_smart_pointer = new int[100];    if(pie && foo)    {        if (lord_fnordicus_has_returned() && !mariners_win())        {            switch (ham_type)            {                case HAM_WITH_WHIPCREAM:                    std::cout << "EWWWW" << std::endl;                    return; //memory leak                default:                    cookie_monster += 12;                    break;            }            if (swiss_cheeze)            {                std::cout << "IT'S CHEESE YOU BUFFOON" << std::endl;                swiss_cheese = 1;                throw new pie(); //memory leak            }            else            {                if (elvis.alive()) return; //edit: I frogot to mark this as amemory leak on the first pass.            }        } else if (lord_poppeye_has_returned()) {            eat_hot_integer_array( this_should_have_been_a_smart_pointer );        }        swiss_cheese && (teh_yummeh = 1);        lolzorz || (we_are_safe = 1);    } else if (pie) {        throw std::execption(); //memory leak    } else if (foo) {        call_some_function_that_will_throw_without_us_realizing_it(); //memory leak    } else {        sexy_momma = 0;        return; //memory leak    }    delete[] this_should_have_been_a_smart_pointer; //cleanup}

in fact, after developing program you theoretically can remove most refcounts. (in simpler programs you typically can remove all refcounts.)

How compiler can (theoretically can) remove refcounts: like any other known-at-compile-time thing.

Inline your
if(!refcount){allocate what you want;};
refcount++
and
refcount--;
if(!refcount){deallocate what you want;}

And then step along program flow and for every refcount++ and refcount-- operator check if refcount can be calculated at compile time, not at runtime .
It's quite hard but possible. And most of refcounts can be calculated at compile time.

BUT:
With complexs programs, some refcounts can't be calculated at compile time. Even in complex program it's probably small precent of 'em.

yes, I was talking about single threaded applications

A simple situation in which resource counting is useful in single-threaded situations is one where you need to keep memory use down (aka, to meet a certain "target" RAM use max, or a limit not breakable via virtual paging (embedded systems for example)).

Although you could simply load/decompress the resource for the program's lifetime, it does take up memory. Resource counting would let the application know when it could free that resource.